Supremes will hear Arizona immigration crackdown

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear legal challenges to a 2010 Arizona law that gives police power to demand proof that a person is a U.S. citizen or legal resident of the United States.

Implementation of the Arizona crackdown has been blocked by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Obama (AP Photo)

“We look forward to arguing this case,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney. The Obama administration has challenged the law on grounds that Arizona is usurping federal authority over immigration.

The law spurred wide-ranging protests when passed by the Arizona Legislature last year. But its chief sponsor, Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce, was recalled in November by voters in his strongly Republican district.

The law requires that police, when making traffic stops, ask for proof of citizenship or legal residence when they have “reasonable suspicion” that a person is in the U.S. illegally. Police are required to establish proof of citizenship or legal residency before releasing a person.

The law also makes it a crime for an undocumented person to work or seek work in the Grand Canyon State.

“I was stunned at the audacity of the Obama administration to file suit against an individual state seeking to safeguard its people,” Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer said in a statement on Monday.

Curiously, the Arizona law — and an even more stringent Alabama law — came as the Great Recession has caused a sharp drop in the number of people illegally crossing from Mexico into the United States.

The Republicans who dominate Arizona’s legislature have generated a reaction.

Hispanic voters helped recall Sen. Pearce in November, and turned out in heavy numbers to elect Democratic mayors in Phoenix and Tucson.

Voting-age Latinos now total 845,000 or 19 percent of Arizona’s population. After losing Arizona to Sen. John McCain in 2008, President Obama is now targeting the state in his reelection effort.

Only eight Supreme Court justices will hear the Arizona case. Justice Elena Kagan has excused herself. Kagan served as Solicitor General in the Justice Department before joining the high court.